on the occasion of the production debut, Porsche is now proclaiming just how fast: 6 minutes, 57 seconds on the Nürburgring, a time set by driver Marc Lieb. That's nearly a half minute faster than the 2004 to 2007 Carrera GT. (Previously, Porsche had said the 918 Spyder would lap the famed Nordschleife in a still-impressive 7:14.)

Porsche's own tester Walter Rohrl, who has also driven the 918 Spyder, was initially skeptical about the hybrid supercar. "I don't like heavy cars," he says. The sheer speed won him over.

"I'm a race car driver, I don't care why it's fast," he says.

He adds that the Porsche 918 Spyder is not just faster, but also easier to drive than its predecessor.

"The Carrera GT was a car for men, not for boys: this car [the 918], anyone can drive."

The 2015 Porsche 918 Spyder goes into production later this month and arrives in the United States early next year. Porsche CEO Matthias Muller says about two-thirds of the 918-unit production run has been sold.

Update: Porsche has released an on-board video of the record-setting run. Check out the video below to see the Porsche 918 Spyder achieve its 6:57 minute Nürburgring lap time.